Page:A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Colonial Gentry Vol 2.djvu/345

 BURKK'S COLONIAL GENTItY 721 Tl. III. Frank Pliillp OllluTf, J,, at nigbstead, 20th October, 188D. Adeline Hoi-niiniu furlniilc l']rn(/stino, t. at TIit,'bstead, Rnndolioscb, 1st Sopti'uibor, 1882. Mr. Abrabam do Smidt entered the Civil Service of tlu) Ca[ie of Good Hope oil 1st Marcb, 1848, a[)pointed as surveyor- gen oral of the Cape Colon}-, 20th January, 187;], and retired from that post in June, 1889, on a special pension granted with the sanction of the Cape Parliament; expropriation commissioner for llu; Cape CVdonj ; justice of the peace of all towns and districts of the colony ; Fellow of the Imperial Institute, and of the Huguenot Society of London ; honorary member of the Geographical Society of Geneva; honorary nicnibcr of the Topographical Society of Switzerland. He was trustee of the ]n'operfy of the Fine Arts Association of Cape Town, and one of the directors of the Soiitham[iton brantdi of the Government department of Science and Ai't ; is a member of the Council of the Scnithampton Fine Art Society, and life member of the committee of the Sonth African Drawing Chib, and of the Council of the South African Arts Association, and a meminr of the committee of the Bournemouth Art Society. ILincnctt. The family of De Smidt was settled at Antwerp and removed to Middelburg in Zcolaud, Holland, where their name figures in the niagi.-trates' list of senators between the years 1507 and ISfl-t. One of its mem- bers oecupied the post of magistrate in Ant- werp between the years 1563 and 1690. The family of De Siiidt was ennoliUxt the 22iid June, 1612. {See Kictstap's Annoiial Qenerah) J.icOB DK Smidt, Lord of Eaarland, in the province of Zeeland, was one of the eonli- dants of the Prince of Orange. He was appointed 20th November, 1558, as bayliffe of Flusliing, and was sworn into that oflice 7th December, 1558; was appointed governor of the Island of Walchereu, October, 1572. He m. Anna Van Bourgondic, daughter of Philips Castard, of Beveren, Kiit., Lord ot Kontes and Liuighen, &c. (bailiff of Veere 1533-62), by his nife, Johanna Van Hesden, and d. 1506, leaving issue, two flauj liters, of whom the eldest, Maria, Lady of Baarlaiul, m. EM.MEEY Van Lieken, afterwards gover- nor of Willemstad. WiLLEM de Smidt (grandnephew of Jacob DE Smidt, Lord of Baarland), >«. Catherine Van der Hetden, and had issue, I. Daniel, of Middelbiirg, m. Catherina (6. 20th October, 170K), daugliter of Petrus Immens, and d. 20lh March, 1736. II. Leonardcs, of whom we treat. The younger son, Leonardus de Smidt, Medical Doct r at Middelbiu'g, m. 6th February, 1721, Sara Jacoba, daughter of Petrus Im.iens, and had a son, Jacob di; Smidt, of Middelburg, Wal- cheren, Holland, m. Johanna Kuypers, and had issue, a son, VOL. II. Abraham de Smibt. h. at MidiUdburg, Walclieren, Holland, 17th June, 1755. He was ail officer of the ship '" Middelburg " be- longing to the Ueet of the Dutch East India Company, commanded by C'aptain Van Gcn- nep. This ship was one ot a small tlect of eight which put into Table Bay on flic return voyage from Cliiiia to India in 1781. War having brolceii out between luigland and Holland these inenof-war were ordered bv Uovernor-General Van Plettcnberg to take shelter in Saldanha Bay. In .Inly, 1781, an English fleet of thirty-four sail cmnmandcd by Admiral .Johnston surprised the Dutch fleet in a fog and captured all the ships except the " Middelburg." Abraham do Smidt, with the help of some of the sailors, laid a tr.iin to the magazine, and succeeded in blowing up the ship and escaping to the sliore. From Saldanha Bay, he, in company with Captain ^'au Grennep. and Van Axcland, the commander of the licet, went to Cape Town, where lie remained, and m. l.Mli Feb- ruary, 1789, Sara Maria, daughter of Adam Mn.LER, whose father was Burgomaster of Cape Town, and liatl issue, I. Jacob, //. 20th January, 1790. II. Abraham, h. 13tli M'arcli, 1793, jus- tice of the peace, sonietiine member of the Legislative Council ; proprietor of the estates De Grootc Sehuur and Wcstbrooke, Roncleboseh, from 1824. He d. s. p. 13th April, 1868. Under his will the estate, De Groote Seluiur, was bequeathed to his nephew Abra- ham DE Smidt, the subject of this memoir, and WcstbrooUeto his brother Willem Anne Jaiissens (De Groote Sehuur is now the propcrtv of the Right Hon. Cecil Rhodes, P.C., Prime Minister of the Ca])e Colony).